The Government of Vietnam has recently placed particular emphasis on the importance of effective aquatic resources management for poverty alleviation. A great number of national and international activities, projects and organisations currently operate within the aquatic resources management sector in Vietnam. In a country with limited resources, the importance of efficient and effective information exchange among stakeholders within the sector, and between the sector and aquatic resources users, is increasingly being recognised.

This study aims to:

• Provide a brief introduction to Vietnamese society (Section 1.1).
• Provide an overview of media currently used in Vietnam, with particular focus on use of media for extension purposes (Section 2).
• Explore access to information, and information exchange between and within stakeholder groups, organisations and institutions within the aquatic resources and fisheries sectors (Section 3).
• Investigate current access to information, and information needs, of rural communities, paying particular attention to information relating to fisheries and aquatic resources management (Section 4).
• Summarise findings and provide recommendations for increasing the efficiency of communication among different stakeholders within the aquatic resources management sector, and from the sector to rural communities (Section 5).

The field research for this study was carried out from 12-22 November 2003, during which time key informant interviews were conducted with representatives of national, provincial and district government departments, research institutions, mass organisations, NGOs and international projects, as well as rural communities in Long An, Quang Tri and Thai Nguyen provinces. In addition, the study draws on findings presented in numerous published and unpublished reports from government agencies and individual projects. The authors believe that the results of the study provide an accurate account of the situation at the time of writing. However, as information access and media usage can change rapidly and vary greatly from area to area, it is recommended that the findings presented here are validated for individual areas and projects.